Xenogen Biosciences

The core of Xenogen's business was its suite of in vivo drug discovery solutions. This encompassed the design, creation, and phenotyping of animal models, particularly rodents, tailored for specific research needs. The company provided services for in vivo target and compound evaluation, enabling pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients to gather higher quality data earlier in the pre-clinical phase. A central product was the VivoVision™ system, which facilitated real-time, non-invasive imaging of biological processes at the molecular level within living organisms, aiming to significantly reduce the time and cost to bring new therapies to market.

The company's business model was twofold: it sold its proprietary IVIS Imaging Systems to research organizations and also operated as a contract research organization (CRO), conducting preclinical studies for its clients. These clients primarily consisted of pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology firms, and academic institutions engaged in drug discovery. A significant milestone in the company's history occurred in February 2006, when Xenogen Corporation was acquired by Caliper Life Sciences for approximately $80 million. This merger was a strategic move to combine Caliper's microfluidic and automation technologies with Xenogen's in vivo imaging capabilities. Subsequently, in December 2009, the Xenogen Biosciences subsidiary was acquired from Caliper by Taconic, a global provider of laboratory rodents and related services, to expand Taconic's own model generation and phenotyping capabilities.